OREANDA-NEWS. An independent report has concluded that night flight trials carried out earlier this year brought noise respite to approximately 100,000 people living under the Heathrow flight paths. The Helios Report (1) found that respite trials, backed by both the aviation industry and the residents' group HACAN, benefited thousands of people in South-East and East London as well as many residents of Berkshire (2).

During the five month 'Early Morning Noise Respite Trial', which ended in March of this year, air traffic controllers were instructing pilots to avoid specified areas on alternate weeks in order to give residents a break from the noise. The scheme only involved flights arriving before 6am. There were very few infringements of the designated areas.

The trial, the first of its kind anywhere in the world, did though have some unforeseen consequences. Some areas, such as Brockley in South East London saw an increase in night flights. Also during the trial aircraft joined the approach paths further from touchdown in order to avoid overflying the exclusion zones. This in turn resulted in the areas between the zones being overflown more during the trial. The Helios report recommends that the trial should not be taken forward in its present form and adds that, in future, pre-trial assessments should be undertaken to predict likely outcomes to better understand the balance of likely the benefits against the unintended negative outcomes.

Matt Gorman, Heathrow's Sustainability Director, said, “The results of this trial are very encouraging, showing that by working with local communities and our partners across the airport we can find new ways to bring noise respite to thousands of residents. We will now examine what improvements we can make to retain the benefits of this trial whilst addressing the challenges.”

John Stewart, the chair of HACAN, said, “This is the first time we have worked with the aviation industry in this way. Although the trial had some problems which would need to be addressed in any future experiments, to bring relief to 100,000 people is a considerable achievement.”

Ian Jopson, Head of Environment and Community Affairs at air traffic control firm NATS, said, “The trial was a very positive example of how the industry and community can work together to look for ways to limit the impact of noise. The latest precision navigation technology makes it more feasible to provide respite through innovative air traffic control procedures, and this trial has been an important first step in understanding how we can best take advantage of it.”

Captain Dean Plumb, Strategy and Environment Manager, British Airways, said, “British Airways is glad to have played a role in trialling these innovative procedures to reduce early morning noise. We are entering an exciting era where modern aircraft are capable of flying more flexibly and quietly than ever before. It is particularly satisfying to be working with local communities, through HACAN, to understand how to best use these new capabilities.”